The Fine Line between Love and Madness
by Pruhana
Summary: "The shadows and blackness in his sight had morphed to become menacing and threatening...The world seemed to have flipped over, and he felt like he saw it in its true form; it was mad." Written for ThornQueen's or Hearts of Eternity's Springtime contest on Deviantart, based on her 'Stranger Days' series. T for minor gore.


_A/N: This was uploaded on DA, but meh, why not? This is based off of Thornqueen's (awesome as alkjashdhgh!) 'Stranger Days' series [thornqueen. deviant art (dot com) gallery/31491979], which is an off-shoot of her __(holy fudging epic!) __'War Eternal' series under her FFnet pen name Hearts of Eternity [fanfiction (dot net) u/595272/Hearts_of_Eternity], which she only publish on Deviant art, so GO READ THAT FIRST! It's filled with fluffy and cute stuff :3_

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It was not until Teeki noticed the numbers on the pages began growing tails and snapping at one another did he realize he had dozed off while working on what seem to be the twentieth repetition of the same problem sum. Irritated, he set the exercise papers aside, picking out another one of his many assignments from his book bag. He sat up in an attempt to combat his growing urge to nap under the breezy shade of the trees.

Annabelle had found the weather too pleasant to stay indoors and had managed to coax the majority of the aliens in the Rec Centre away from their study areas. Teeki had neglected his homework in favour of hanging out with Annabelle and the Alliance. As is tradition for all youths, they heaped their humongous load of assignments to the last three days of the Spring break. They were all trying to finish whatever they could though unfortunately, Annabelle was making it more difficult than it actually was.

Once at the Alliance's favourite lake, the person in-question had cheerfully abandoned her books on the picnic mat she had brought and went to the strip of houses built along the lakeside to pick up several of Teeki's younger cousins. She had then begun teaching them the finer details of kite flying near the man-made shore, far from the surrounding foliage.

Teeki was the only person still diligently mucking through work. The others had already given in to temptation, using their books as pillows, sprawling over their shared mats. The Klozians were soundlessly sleeping while the Slarrians produced sounds of an odd mix of croaking and slurping in their own version of snoring. The Lii and Yuu were skittering around the edges of the lake, the leaf-like appendages atop their heads spread as wide as they could go to absorb as much sun rays as they could. They were still searching for the non-existent fishes that the humans insisted already died out. Teeki grouched internally that they were probably already done with their work.

Sighing, he turned back to the notebook on his lap. Written in the scrawl that was his handwriting was a reminder of a presentation for the newly established cultural class. He already knew what less known aspect of the Uma culture he wanted to present; and specifically which story he would narrate.

It was a fairytale first written and told on the expansive plains of Umaos. It is one of Umas' oldest folk tales; so old that even the name of the protagonist (or victim, depending on how one regard the story) was lost in the ages.

Once upon a time (one of the fascinating universal constants the Alliance discovered while hanging out was that almost all fables across the universe begins as such), there was a young fennick male who entered the foreign terrain of the poisonous red forests of Umaos. The fennicks were not evolved to the forests, but a plague had spread across all mammalian organisms that year and prey was scarce. Many communities have opted for alternative food sources from animals of other classes. This particular clan had sent their hunters into the forests for the small rodent-like creatures, one of the more common, non-toxic living things that dwell within. The forest, dyed in varying shades of scarlet red loops through Umaos's two poles alongside the strip of Umaos savanna, directly circumnavigating the dark side of the non-revolving planet.

And so the young fennick ventured into the forest. Perhaps it was the poet in him, or simply the forest's enchanting beauty, for he saw many things gruesome, yet felt no aversion to. Like trees that grew with sticky membranes among their branches that caught any and all creatures of flight whom did not successfully navigate through its leafage. One particular translucent trap had fallen to the undergrowth, gluing down an unfortunate family of horned rodent, starving them to death. The fennick felt nothing but fascination as he watched various carnivorous scavengers pick from their remains.

As he delved further in, he caught sight of a trail of Umaos slugs carting off pieces of flesh in their gooey bodies held together by thin films of lamina. Their innards that glowed in the dark underwood were blotched with dark red patches. Fueled by morbid curiosity, the fennick followed the slugs' slimy trail to a recently deceased kreyrik. Kreyriks were prey on the plains, how one died so far from its habitat was anybody's guess, but there it was, nibbled and torn in its abdomen, offal picked out and slowly rotting. Yet, the disgusting, horrible sight and smell around the corpse were not what drew the attention of the fennick. Rather, it was the delicate flower that grew from atop the carcass.

He instantly knew what it was. It was the _Ra'rrek_, a rare purple flower with a glowing shard-like organ in its core, said to bloom once a lifetime and fed on the death of another. It was a flower with dark origins in Uma lore. The unscented blossom drew all the fennick's attention. Its enrapturing, delicate beauty was a stark contrast to the surrounding death and darkness. It was possibly the one kind thing the youth had seen ever since he first entered the forest. He stared at the glowing growth for what felt like an eternity, marveling at the delicate beauty.

When he finally felt the ache in his back and legs, the fennick reluctantly tore his gaze away. As he did, he saw the world with different eyes. The shadows and blackness in his sight had morphed to become menacing and threatening. Every edge of every leaf he could see was bladed and sharp, craving the slice of flesh to draw blood; the scavenging of foul meat all around him seemed frenzied and overpowered by the crazed hunger in the living creatures of the forest. The world seemed to have flipped over, and he felt like he saw it in its true form; it was _mad_.

Even as he returned to his clan, he saw the dark desperation to survive in his clan mates, in the tall savanna grasses, and even in the mewing newborns. The new knowledge kept him awake that night. How could he survive in this hungry, vicious world that grew madder every second? The youth knew the answer for his problem.

The next day, and everyday afterwards, he would carry a single rodent the clan had hunted to the _Ra'rrek_, feeding it by adding to the decomposing lump it was growing on, hoping that the plant would live as long as he would so it would help him anchor himself to the one source of sanity he could think of. He spent many hours bathing in its clean, kind light until he felt ready to face the cruel world of madness again.

It was only on his third visit did he finally consciously acknowledged that he was likely to have 'fallen in love' with the flower. The idea in itself was preposterous, impossible. But nobody had witnessed what he found himself aware of either. The youth had reasoned that it was not believed to be possible because no other had beheld what he had. He found the violent tendencies that had been solidifying itself in his maturing form ebb away over the days. _It must be a gift from the_ Ra'rrek_,_ he thought. Now, even as he stood among the dark madness of his clan mates, he felt sane and pure. The _Ra'rrek_must have been the one to bequeath him of his new found comfort. It only served as another reason for him to devote himself to the flower.

Eventually, his elder brother became suspicious of the youth's unusually long absences from the clan. The elder had noticed the fennick's less than satisfactory hauls from his extended hunting trips, much lesser than other hunters' kills. Without informing the _téo_, he took it upon himself to tail his younger brother into the red forest.

The elder brother followed the youth by scent, growing increasingly uneasy as the trail continued deeper into the forest than he expected. The farther into the forest he went, the more unknown creatures he found lurking in the shadows of the colossal trees. 'What was his younger kin doing in here?' he wondered, hackles raising in response to the unseen the motion that he felt constantly shifting around him. As the scent trail came grew stronger, the smell of old decay began saturating the humid air. He slowed, cautiously advancing. And he saw.

There, among the entwining, twisting roots of two trees, was large mound of deteriorating matter. The lumps of wet, bleeding rodents, no more than a few hours old clustered atop the middle of the tiny hill while other bits of oozing, foaming flesh formed the base of the unholy tepee. The centre of the gruesome display was a shining trophy. It took the elder a moment to realise that he what he was staring at the bloom of the devil-woman; the _Ra'rrek_, sprouting from the very peak of what must be its fertiliser. He also knew the curse surrounding its disputed existence. Quickly, he averted his eyes to the side, where coincidentally, the person he was stalking emerged with another newly killed rodent. The youth froze at the sight of the other fennick.

The horrible understanding that his younger brother had been bewitched by the cursed plant dawned on the elder. He gaped silently for a stunned second before darting off the way he came. He did not know how to cure the young fennick of the dark enchantment he had fallen prey to, but the elders of the clan would know, and the_ mar-téo_ would tell him what to do. At that moment, his mind was occupied by the sole thought of returning to the clan. _Surely, everything would be resolved as soon as he got back!_His confused and frightened mind had not expected that his younger brother would see him as a threat.

If his elder brother reported to the _mar-téo_of his nurturing of the taboo plant, they would destroy the Ra'rrek! The foolish fennick then launched himself at his brother, to which his brother immediately shoved back against. The elder's mass overbalanced the two, toppling them towards the ground. He immediately tore free from the younger fennick when they both realized that the ground was lined with a piece of a tree's fallen, adhering membranes. Hardly thinking clearly in the haze that was his fear ridden mind, the elder brother scrambled away, barreling through his own scent trail that would bring him clear of the presence of the accursed plant.

The youth had landed with a hand out to brace his body from the impact, resulting in his entire forearm glued to the forest floor. The thick film of gooey substance stuck firmly to the fennick's arm, growing ever more resistant as he struggled to extract his appendage. He could already feel its degenerative juices seeping through his pelt, tingling sharply on his skin. In desperation, he yanked the vine of a razor-leafed creeping plant from a nearby tree. Using the knifelike leaves, he cut himself loose. In the process of doing so, he had cut himself multiple times on – what he soon found to be poisonous – leaves.

Hot corruption raced in his veins by the time he was free. As the scalding burn of poison began to paralyse him, hopelessness took over his mind. His brother would beat him to the clan borders; the plant he so dearly loved would be burnt; and if he was still alive by then, his grief over the destruction of his lover would force the _mar-téo_to have him locked up for the rest of his life or subjected to mercy killing. Either way was doom to him. He decided that if he was to perish, he would do so as a last act of offering to his beloved.

The fennick painfully crawled to the shining jewel, pawing his way up the decomposing pile of flesh, gouging a gap that revealed the roots of the _Ra'rrek_. For the first time, the youth glimpse at his lover's essence. The branching, red roots were embedded with tiny diamond-like stones, glittering with flashes of blues and whites. As enamored as he was of the _Ra'rrek_, he was enchanted by the small growths of shining crystals within its cradle of death and decay. He barely considered his sudden desire to help them grow before shoving his bleeding arm into the hole, pressing his wounds against the tangle of roots. There the fennick lay; lovingly gazing at the _Ra'rrek _till the moment he passed.

It was questionable whether or not the story was a true tale since no one had reported sightings of another _Ra'rrek_. The millennia long debacle continues today among more superstitious Umas. It is believed to be a story made up to scare cubs into staying far from the mysterious red forests, or to warn young adults to reserve the more complex emotions tied to love for their future companions. For whichever reasons that led to its creation, it remains one of the most enduring tale of innocent, if haunting, love stories in Uma culture.

At the end of the recollection, Teeki could not help but be reminded of a certain human female. Looking up from his papers, he stared at the figure skirting the lakeshore. Teeki closed his notebook with a wistful sigh as his heart seemingly swelled. He thought he felt as the young fennick in the story felt.

The pale lilac sundress Annabelle wore fluttered slightly in the wind as she squat down next to Lii to answer an unheard question. As Teeki watched, a faint blush coloured her cheeks, likely in response to another embarrassing statement made by the untactful Nebulon. She is beautiful.

If Teeki was to be 'ruined' for his _Ra'rrek_, then so be it.

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_A/N: Welcome to the end of the chapter! If you are confused, you obviously haven't used those links in my first A/N. Haha. This took quite a while to write but TQ loved it, so hehe, _so worth it_! __If you can spare just a few minutes, do leave a review; I don't mind if you flame, as long as I know where I went wrong (or right ;P)._


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